USA-18s outlast Stars

Published on March 6, 2009 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Traverse City North Stars News Release


ANN ARBOR - The Traverse City North Stars kicked off their critical five-game road swing with an inspired performance on Friday night at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube, but came away without a point as the U.S. National Team Development Program's Under-18 squad held on for a 4-3 victory in the opener of a two-game weekend series.

"They don't give out two points for playing a good game, but that's what we had tonight - a well-played, competitive hockey game and we happened to come out on the short end," said Stars coach Anthony Palumbo. "We made a couple of mistakes that cost us, and it's no secret that when you're playing the (Under-)18s, you can't give 'em any extra chances or any extra room to operate. We did, and we paid for it on the scoreboard."

The Stars held a 2-1 lead after the first period on goals by Jarrod LaBelle (Bay City, MI/TC North Stars) at 10:39 and a power play effort from Eric McLintock (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars) with 3:52 remaining. USA scored the only goal of the middle stanza, and grabbed a 3-2 advantage 10:45 into the third. Bo Jacobs (Twin Lake, MI/Soo Indians AAA) bagged his first junior goal less than three minutes later, but Brendan Rempel levied what became the game-winner for the hosts 1:34 after that.

Traverse City saw its lead over Team USA in the NAHL's North Division shrink to five points, as the USA Under-17s were also victorious on Friday, scoring a 6-3 win at Alpena. The North Stars fell to 28-15-6, but have played four fewer contests than USA. Mahoning Valley still leads second-place TC by nine points for the top spot in the division.

"We knew that this was going to be our toughest stretch of the season," Palumbo said. "We have two at the Under-18s and then three at Mahoning Valley. I thought we needed to play with passion and intensity, and we had that tonight. We have to come back tomorrow and be ready to do it again and I think the guys know that, too."

The North Stars can clinch one of the four playoff spots in the six- team North Division with a victory in any of its remaining nine regular season games after fifth-place Marquette fell to Motor City on Friday.

Among the TC superlatives against the USA-18s was the career-high save total (39) for Stars keeper C.J. Motte (St. Clair, MI/Honeybaked AAA), and centerman Dan Radke (Orinda, CA/Soo Indians AAA), who dished out a pair of assists. Radke now has eight points in his last five outings. Eric O'Hearn (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars), Chris Heineman (New Boston, MI/TC North Stars), and Kyle Jean (Sault Ste. Marie, MI/TC North Stars) had an assist apiece on Friday.

The North Stars will face off against the Team USA Under-18s again on Saturday night in Ann Arbor; Face-off at 7 p.m.

We thank you, our media partners, for your continued interest in Traverse City North Stars hockey. If there is anything we can do to help facilitate any aspect of your coverage, please do not hesitate to contact us. You are a valued component of North Stars hockey.

For more information, call Lance-Michael Correia at (231) 632-5047, the Traverse City North Stars office at (231) 941-9200 or visit the team's Web site at: www.traversecitynorthstars.com.

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North American Hockey League Stories from March 6, 2009


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